


Broken but Perfectly Pieced Together

by Akira_of_the_Twilight



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes-centric, F/M, Foursome - F/M/M/M, Getting Together, M/M, Multi, OT4, Pining, Polyamory, Rejection, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 19:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4717439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akira_of_the_Twilight/pseuds/Akira_of_the_Twilight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Bucky were each others' be all and end all.</p><p>They had loved each other.</p><p>In the 1940s though, neither could act on it. A secret kiss or two done when emboldened by alcohol had been the most they had ever shared.</p><p>However, they were living in a decade past the 2000s now, and love between two men could be expressed more openly. So when Bucky finally felt he wasn’t such a mess—such a freak—he waited until they were alone in the kitchen, cupped Steve’s face, and planted a kiss on Steve’s lips like they had done in secret so long ago.</p><p>Bucky almost tripped and fell when Steve violently jerked back and slapped Bucky’s hands away.</p><p>Bucky stood frozen with his hands out, unsure what he had done wrong.</p><p>Steve bowed his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Bucky. There’s someone else.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken but Perfectly Pieced Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DreamcatchersDaughter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamcatchersDaughter/gifts).



> This story is for the lovely DreamcatchersDaughter, who requested a Stuckona (yes, I am making up that foursome name off the top of my head) fic for my daily fic weeks. So I hope all of you enjoy this fic/rare OT4.

The future was confusing and frustrating. There were days when things came easy to Bucky and he took to the new turns of phrases and technology like a fish to water, but then there other days when something that seemed so easy (like pushing a friggin’ button) just didn’t make sense to him. It was during those days that he was grateful to have Steve; his best friend still struggled with the future, and so in this they were allies.

Steve was also the one Bucky turned to when his memories became too much; although, after Steve broke a table in half after hearing one of Bucky’s stories, Bucky had learned to filter his tales. He found himself sharing the more graphic details with Natasha. Nonetheless, Steve was his number one support system.

Not surprising. Steve had always been the one he turned to and vice versa. They were each others' be all and end all.

They had loved each other.

In the 1940s though, neither could act on it. A secret kiss or two done when emboldened by alcohol had been the most they had ever shared.

However, they were living a decade and a half into the 2000s, and love between two men could be expressed more openly. So when Bucky _finally_ felt he wasn’t such a mess—such a freak—he waited until they were alone in the kitchen, reached to cup Steve’s face, and planted a kiss on Steve’s lips like they had done in secret so long ago.

Bucky almost tripped and fell when Steve violently jerked back and slapped Bucky’s hands away.

Bucky stood frozen with his hands out, unsure what he had done wrong, but knowing down to his core that he had made a fatal error somewhere.

A pink tinge colored Steve’s cheeks as he bowed his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Bucky. There’s someone else.”

 _Oh_ , Bucky thought. That made sense.

Bucky ignored the feeling of a knife stabbing him in the chest.

* * *

_Tony Stark? Fuckin’ Tony Stark!_

Bucky couldn’t believe it, but there it was for everyone to see: Steve and Tony kissing outside on the balcony.

Bucky ducked out of the room to avoid being spotted.

It didn’t make any fuckin’ sense. Steve was always bitchin’ about Stark. Sure there had been some conversations about Tony taking him to Yankees Stadium and art galleries, but there had been so many more complaints. Bucky would be richer than Tony if hereceived a dollar every time Steve complained about Tony skipping meals and Avenger Meetings, how the guy rambled on and on until he confused Steve to the point that Steve would forget why he was talking to Tony in the first place, how Tony had to be physically hauled to medical facilities after a fight, how he spent hours working on new tech for the team (forgetting to sleep most of the time), how he wouldn’t listen and often almost got himself killed and—

_Oh…_

Had Bucky really been that oblivious?

* * *

“They were being more subtle than usual, and truth be told, you probably weren’t ready to face the possibility that Steve had moved on, so your brain protected you.” Natasha threw a punch at Bucky’s face.

Bucky blocked and attacked.

Natasha ducked and bounced back with an attack of her own.

“My brain protected me?” Incredulity filled Bucky’s voice.

Natasha tried to get Bucky in her signature leg wrap, but Bucky threw her to the mat before she could get a good hold.

Natasha rolled to her feet and took a defensive stance—she was trying to lure Bucky into attacking and would then use his momentum against him; Bucky knew the trick.

“You’d be amazed what the human mind can do,” Natasha said.

Bucky huffed.

Natasha smirked. “I wouldn’t make light of the human mind if I were you. Seventy years of brainwashing, yet you still managed to regain your identity.”

“Barely.” Bucky scoffed.

Suddenly Natasha was right there and before he could stop her, she knocked him off his feet and onto his back. She pulled a knife out from nowhere and held it above his throat, stopping just short of stabbing him. “Never belittle what you’ve accomplished. It may not seem like much to you, but it has more meaning than you know.” She withdrew her knife and stood.

She left Bucky on the mat and sashayed out of the training room.

* * *

Natasha kissed like no woman Bucky had ever kissed before (at least that was true from what he got based of off vague recollections). There was a softness to her kiss, but an edge to it too. The best comparison he could make was that her kisses brushed like butterfly wings, if the tips of those wings were razors. That ghost-like touch of danger and strength hidden under a façade of softness.

He couldn’t quite explain how he ended up in a relationship with Natasha either. One day they were just close friends, and then she waltzed into the room where Bucky was seated on the couch, tilted his head back by his chin, and planted a kiss on his lips.

They had been romantically involved since.

Bucky didn’t mind. After months of living with the Avengers, he’d realized that although he loved Steve, Natasha understood him in a way no one else could. He had been a weapon, and so had she. He didn’t have to explain why some days he couldn’t stand having his back to large windows outside, or why he’d suddenly fixate on a person until he’d catalogued twenty different ways to kill them in that moment. It wasn’t that he wanted to kill or even felt threatened; it was just something left over from before.

It was during one of his moments of fixation that Bucky saw the small curve of a smile on her lips as she watched Steve.

Bucky didn’t say anything about it.

That is, until he caught her giving the same loving and adoring look to Tony.

“You have feelings for both of them,” Bucky stated, staring at the ceiling of his bedroom.

Natasha hummed. She lazily turned over in bed so her chest pressed against Bucky’s side. “I do.”

Bucky’s brow scrunched in concentration. Her infatuation with Steve he understood, but for Tony… he just couldn’t fathom it. “And you never made a move? I would think you’d have tried something. That Tony fella seems like he’d be fine with a threesome, and Steve can be a bit of a prude sometimes, but he’ll do anything for someone he loves.”

Natasha brushed her fingers along Bucky’s ribcage and pressed a feather-light kiss to his shoulder. “True, but they’re not ready.”

Bucky cocked his head at her statement.

Natasha’s lips curled across Bucky’s skin as she smiled. “You and I are broken, but we still cut. Tony and Steve need to fix themselves, and with our sharp edges we’ll only damage them further. They’re fixing each other though, and soon we can make our move.”

“’We?’”

Natasha just kept on smiling.

* * *

HYDRA had captured Bucky and Tony. They wanted their weapon back, and they wanted the world’s best weapon manufacture to aid them.

The idiots must not have gotten the memo that Tony had built his first Iron Man suit in a cave with scrap metal.

Explosion rang out through the HYDRA base as Tony and Bucky ran for the exit.

Adrenaline rushed through Bucky as he took the lead, socking a guard in the face and snatching up his gun to shoot the man’s fellow agent. In seconds, Bucky had stripped the two HYDRA agents of weapons and armor. He’d finished readying himself and helped Tony with the last of his armor’s straps.

They rushed through the maze of rooms and corridors. Bucky had planned to be the one taking out all of the HYDRA agents, but was pleasantly surprised to learn not only could Tony use the stolen guns, the genius actually had some damn good aim. His respect for Tony swelled as they fought their way to exit.

It all went to hell when one of the explosions caused rubble to fall from the ceiling and crush Bucky.

Bucky coughed as dust filled his senses.

“Bucky!” Tony crouched down next to him, and started hurling rubble off of him.

Bucky pushed Tony away. “Go! Find Steve and the others.”

Tony shook his head, shoving aside more debris. “We get out of here together.”

Bucky scowled. “Don’t be a fucking idiot! As long as one of us gets out of here, then they can go tell the others—”

“No!” Tony shouted, his amber eyes glowing with such rage, he looked like a demon. “I am not leaving anyone behind, and I am sure as hell not going to leave you with the assholes who made you their puppet for seventy-years!”

Tony picked up his gun and shot.

Behind Bucky, someone screamed in agony. Their body hit the ground with a solid thud, and Bucky knew without looking the person was dead.

Suddenly Bucky understood why Steve and Natasha had feelings for Tony.

* * *

It wasn’t just Natasha.

Steve and Tony returned her feelings too.

Once again, Bucky questioned his obliviousness to the romantic goings on of his teammates.

Perhaps he shouldn’t blame himself for being so blind. Most people wouldn’t notice the small unnecessary touches, the quick glances, the way Tony lit up when Natasha engaged him in a battle of wit and humor, or the way Steve relaxed around Natasha the same way he did with Tony. Bucky saw how Steve’s shoulders dropped in Tony and Natasha’s presences, like he was letting the weight of the world slide off his shoulders.

It was the same way he acted around Bucky.

* * *

Bucky almost wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of their situation. Bucky was still in love with Steve, while also in love with Natasha and Tony. Natasha, Steve, and Tony were essentially in the same position as Bucky with some slight alterations as to who they were in a relationship with, except for one thing: Tony didn’t love Bucky.

Or at least Bucky had not seen any evidence to suggest so.

And Bucky did not know how to feel about that. On the one hand, he felt he should be grateful that this entanglement of emotions and relations wasn’t as complicated as it could be. On the other hand, Bucky wanted his feelings returned.

He’d shown he could be just as witty and capable as Natasha and Steve. Hell, he could make Tony laugh so hard it brought the genius to tears. He’d even spent a few weekends letting the billionaire show him what Tony dubbed “the greatest movies of all time.” He could also talk shop with Tony, even if he couldn’t always understand the advanced mechanics. Things like cars and motorcycles though, Bucky could spend hours talking about, and he had.

Still, Tony never showed interest outside of companionship.

So when Bucky heard a knock at his door one night, he was thrown when he found Tony standing outside his room, wrapped up in a blanket with bags under his eyes.

“FRIDAY shut down my workshop. I tried to get some sleep so she’d let me do my work again, but I can’t sleep.” Tony clutched the blanket tighter and hit Bucky with a determined stare. It was the same look Steve got in his eyes when he was standing up to bullies.

Bucky waited for whatever challenge Tony planned to issue him, but none came. Tony just kept staring, and like a fist to his face, Bucky suddenly knew what Tony wanted.

Steve and Natasha were away on a mission.

Tony couldn’t sleep, and he’d come to Bucky.

Bucky pushed the door open more and stood aside. “Want to join me?”

Tony scoffed, acting annoyed, but Bucky saw the tension leave him. “I can’t fall asleep, so I might as well have interesting company while I try, right?”

“You could always stay with Bruce,” Bucky offered gently.

Tony shook his head as he climbed into Bucky’s bed and settled in. “He snores.”

“I snore,” Bucky lied.

Tony waved off the lie. “Yeah, but his snores make you think he’s transformed in his sleep. Yours should be fine.”

A slow grin spread across Bucky’s face.

* * *

“A foursome?” Steve repeated from his spot on the couch.

Natasha nodded, not at all fazed by Steve’s shock.

Other than a few blinks and a slight widening of his eyes, Tony acted mostly unaffected by Natasha’s offer. He gave Steve a curious look, and then his eyes darted to Bucky.

Bucky put on his most salacious smirk.

Tony looked away, but shifted his legs in manner that told Bucky Tony was more than interested in what Bucky and Natasha were offering.

Steve ran his hand nervously through his hair. “I know things are different now, and the world is more open to different types of relationships, but I don’t think a foursome is socially acceptable.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “So?”

Steve’s face turned as red as Natasha’s hair. “We’re Avengers. We’re constantly in the public eye. If we—“

“Why should we care what others think? If all of us are interested in one another, why should we deny ourselves this?” Natasha’s gaze narrowed. “Let people talk, but they have no say in what goes on between us.”

Steve sighed. “That’s nice to say, but the reality is—”

Tony scooped up Steve’s hand and squeezed it, cutting off Steve. “The reality is people are going to talk, and people are going to believe what they want to believe. There are gossip columns talking about how one of us is cheating on the other everyday, Steve. So why not give them something real to gossip about?”

“Tony…” Steve started.

Tony huffed and swatted Steve on the arm. “Are you really going to make all of us unhappy just because of some dicks in the media industry? Wasn’t hiding your feelings in the 1940s bad enough? Give yourself a break. If anyone tries to mess with us I got an army of lawyers. Oh, and I’m sure Natasha already has a list of creative ways to get back at anyone too.”

The small smile on Natasha’s lips confirmed Tony’s suspicion.

Steve sighed in defeat, but there was a happy gleam in his eyes. “All right, fine. Might as well give it a try, right?”

Tony concurred and Natasha nodded.

Bucky swooped down and planted a kiss on Steve.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://akira-of-the-twilight.tumblr.com/)


End file.
